


Holtzmann's Experiment

by KICKINGHOSTASS



Category: Ghostbusters (2016), Lilo & Stitch (2002)
Genre: Crossover, Other
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-06
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-23 08:21:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 5,796
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8320711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KICKINGHOSTASS/pseuds/KICKINGHOSTASS
Summary: Holtz didn’t mean for things to happen this way; how could she have known, there was no way.





	1. Holtzmann's Experiment

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Holtzmann stared blankly at the fluffy, wide-eyed “dog” in front of her. She grabbed the right temple of her glasses and slid it off, letting her glasses hang on her left ear.

Holtzmann stared blankly at the fluffy, wide-eyed “dog” in front of her. She grabbed the right temple of her glasses and slid it off, letting her glasses hang on her left ear.

The “dog”, or rather creature as it was blue with antennas and extra limbs, made a snarling noise and began to run around Holtz’s lab, destroying everything in its path. 

Holtzmann, suddenly realizing the seriousness of the situation, began screaming at the creature to stop everything that it was doing. It didn’t listen to her, of course, so she resorted to chasing the thing around the room, attempting to capture it before it could reach her “babies”. 

Hearing the commotion, Erin found herself quickly running towards the lab, worried for Holtzmann. What could she be screaming so frantically about, she thought as she twisted the door open. The scene that fell before her eyes was most certainly not the one she had pictured in her head, although even then she wasn’t quite sure what she expected to see.

“Holtzmann, what is going on?” She shouted to the scientist, who was looking very disheveled. 

Holtzmann snapped her head up, focusing on her friend, “Erin!” she gasped, “help me catch that _thing!_ ”

Just before Erin could ask _what exactly_ the thing was, it landed on her head and slobbered all over her face. It then cackled loudly as it jumped off of her and onto one of the tables covered in various tools and gadgets. 

Erin’s nose scrunched up at the stench of the saliva, “oh come on!” She sighed, dragging her hands across her eyes, trying to get rid of the spit on them. 

Holtzmann tried her best not to laugh, but a snort accidentally slipped through causing Erin to narrow her eyes at the blonde, “it’s not funny Jillian.” 

“Oooo,” Holtzmann mimic shuddered at the use of her first name, “serious Erin is serious.” She winked over at the woman who was, now, glaring even harder at her than before.

“It was kind of funny,” Holtz approached her friend, forgetting the little monster running around her lab, “here, let me help you.”

Holtz whipped out a handkerchief from the pocket of her gray vest and began to wipe the woman’s face, “a little easier than cleaning up slime though, huh?” she joked.

Erin grimaced, “I suppose,” she paused, letting Holtzmann finish cleaning her up, “though it’s much more _pungent_ that the slime usually is…” She let her eyes wander, not wanting to directly look at the blonde lest she let a smile form on her lips, admitting defeat to the smaller woman. 

Holtzmann leaned in closer and took a large whiff, partly out of curiosity but mostly out of wanting to make Erin break, “Eeeyuck!” She pinched her nose, Erin really wasn’t kidding. 

Erin was about to let slip a laugh when she noticed the little blue monster coming straight at them with it’s claws out. She twirled with Holtzmann to get out of its path, causing it to slam into the shelves behind them. A few books came barreling down onto its head, stunning it momentarily. 

The two slowly, and cautiously, approached the unconscious furry creature.

“What...even is this _thing_ , Holtzmann?” She side eyed the scientist, hoping to get a clear explanation. 

“I-I’m not entirely sure.”

“What do you mean you’re not sure?!” 

“I-I-I don’t know what it _is_! I know w-what I was trying to do and this most certainly was not it!”

“Well what were you _trying_ to do?!”

“I was t-trying-” 

Suddenly the creature lunged itself upward whilst making a low, growling noise. This caused the two scientists to shout and instinctively back away from it. The creature saw their fear and decided to use it against them. It snarled and ran right at them, making the two both jump to the side out of its way. This gave the creature a clear path to the open window on the other side of the lab. It continued to run until it reached the window, where it turned to face Erin and Holtz. 

“Meega nala kweesta!!” It yelled at the two women as it jumped out of the Firehouse window.


	2. You Did WHAT?!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Shit,” Holtzmann ran to the window, peering down, “that can’t be good.”

“Shit,” Holtzmann ran to the window, peering down, “that can’t be good.”

“What can’t be good?”

Holtz turned around and stared at Erin, biting her lip, “well, you saw what it did in here…” she trailed off, expecting Erin to fill in the rest.

“And?”

Holtz sighed, “so I can only imagine what it’s going to do out there. With all those people.”

“Oh god.”

“Oh god is right,” she let her eyes widen as she stared at the ground, grimacing. 

“We have to go catch that _thing_!” Erin began pacing around, trying to formulate a plan to capture the creature, since their last attempt failed horribly. How were they supposed to find AND grab that little monster if they could barely handle it when it was confined to a single room?! Her mind was racing, and so was her mouth; she was whispering thoughts quietly, and frantically, to herself. _Well, they could gear up and head to the ecto-1 and drive around looking for it. And take that ghost trap Holtz made that looked like a bear trap, even if that thing wasn’t a ghost, it could still clamp onto its leg or something. But how to lure it in… What could be used to lure it to the trap. It seems… sentient in some way, so maybe it would outsmart them…_

“Erin,” 

_But maybe they could outsmart it! If they predict exactly where it was headed and set up an elaborate trap in that area and stake out and watch for it and then the unsuspecting creature will wander into the trap and then-_

“Erin!” 

Erin jolted at the yelling of her name, and looked up, wide eyed, at Holtzmann, “y-yes?” She stuttered out, a bit shaken up from the fright, as well as still distraught over their current situation. 

“We’re going to have to take some deep breaths,” she stared at the copper haired woman, pantomiming a deep breathing exercise until Erin began to do it herself, “and sit down, think rationally, and come up with a plan.” 

“Okay,” Erin let a breath slowly exit her mouth. 

“Okay. Good… Great! Let’s get to it!” Holtzmann scurried over to her table, which now had a clear path down the center where the creature had ran through earlier, knocking things over on its destructive path. 

She pulled up a tall stool and patted the seat, signaling Erin to come and sit. 

Erin walked over, inhaling again and then letting out the huge gulp of air as she sat down onto the cold stool, “okay, we can do this.” 

“That’s the attitude!” Holtzmann’s right hand fist pumped up in the air. 

“But first,” Erin looked over sternly at the blonde, causing her to quickly pull her fist back down to her side, “what in the name of EVERYTHING THAT IS HOLY did you make?!”

“Well…” 

“Well what? Spill, Holtzmann.”

“Okay, okay, fine,” the scientist sighed, “as you know, _mycat_ passed away last week-”

“You had a cat?” Erin tilted her head, confused.

“No, no, _mycat_.” 

Erin started at her blankly, still confused.

“ _Michael Hat_.”

“Ohhhhh, Mike _Hat_!”

“Yes… that’s what I said,” Holtzmann stared at Erin. 

“Right… poor Kevin, he really loved that dog,” Erin recalled him coming in earlier in the week in a really weird funk; he wasn’t smiling charmingly as usual, but instead zoning out into space, and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days.

“Yeah… so, as much as I think he can be…”

“Holtzmann.” 

“...dimwitted at times,” 

Erin sighed, though she couldn’t really argue it; it was true, the man was dumb as nails sometimes, thinking that he couldn’t answer the phone because it was in their fishtank, even though the phone that _was_ ringing was on his desk in front of him…

Holtzmann cleared her throat, “right, so even though I think that, he is still a part of our team, and in some way,” she breaths in, “I care about him,” she shudders jokingly, “and it kills us _all _to see him so upset-”__

__“Oh, absolutely,” Erin nodded, “but Holtzmann, what does this have to do with that _monster_ that was-”_ _

__“So,” Holtzmann continued on before Erin could finish her statement, “I went to his house-”_ _

__“You went to Kevin’s house?!”_ _

__“So, I went to Kevin’s house,” she shot a look at Erin, telling her to wait and hear the full explanation, “and I captured what I _thought_ was the ghost of Michael Hat,” she looked at Erin out of the corner of her eye, expecting her to interject again._ _

__“And I took the entity back to the lab, keeping it in the first ghost trap, and stored it safely under one of the tables. And then grabbed my shovel and went _back_ to Kevin’s house late at night-”_ _

__Erin gasped, “oh Holtz, you didn’t.”_ _

__The blonde nodded, “I did.”_ _

__“Why would you do that?!” Erin stared at her friend in disbelief._ _

__“So I could put the spirit back _into_ the body! I really thought I had figured out how to do it properly too, it’s something I’ve been trying to work out for awhile now, and it just,” she sighed, “seemed like a good time to test it out.”_ _

__“So you _dug up_ Kevin’s dog to test some stupid theory out?!” _ _

__“Well, no… Yes… Kind off? I mean,” she noticed Erin crossing her arms and looking at her disappointedly, “I mean, yes, it was to test my theory out… but also it was to make Kevin happy again!”_ _

__“By digging up his _dead_ dog?! Jillian! Do you not realize how messed up that is?!”_ _

__Holtzmann winced, “I… I know it is… But if it were to-”_ _

__“But nothing!” Erin stood up, slamming her hands down on the table, “what you did is really disrespectful to Kevin and Mike Hat!”_ _

__“If it were to-”_ _

__“I can’t believe you did this!”_ _

__“If i-”_ _

__“For you to sink this low-”_ _

__Holtzmann had it, “If it worked out the way it was _supposed_ to, then Kevin would have had his best friend back! Alive! And he would have been happy again Erin!” she screamed at the woman. _ _

__Erin removed her hands from the table and sat back down. Her mouth opened, as if she was going to say something, but nothing came out._ _

__“He would have been happy again, Erin… if it turned out the way I thought it was going to. I messed up Erin, I know I did,” she slumped back down into her seat again, letting her head hang for a moment, “but it wasn’t for fully selfish reasons. And I really thought it was going to work… I didn’t… I didn’t expect,” her eyes began to well up, as the tension began to dissipate._ _

__“Oh Holtzmann,” she looked on, worriedly, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled. I see why you did it,” she breathed out, “and I can see that you already feel horrible enough that it didn’t work.”_ _

__Holtzmann nodded solemnly._ _

__“It’s okay Holtzmann, we’ll fix this, okay? I promise.” The taller scientist walked over to the other and placed a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her reassuringly._ _

__“Okay,” Holtzmann looked up at her friend, and smiled slightly._ _

__Erin playfully punched Holtzmann’s shoulder, seeing that she was cheering up a bit, “even though you’re an idiot scientist.”_ _

__“I prefer, evil genius.”_ _

__The two laughed, hugging each other._ _


	3. Spacing Out

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kevin’s eyes fluttered open slowly to the pictures of himself he had taped onto the ceiling. Usually this would make him smile on most mornings, hence why he taped them there; well that, and they were usually pleasant to look at whilst he was falling asleep. But today, like many of the days the past week, he was not in a smiling mood.

Kevin’s eyes fluttered open slowly to the pictures of himself he had taped onto the ceiling. Usually this would make him smile on most mornings, hence why he taped them there; well that, and they were usually pleasant to look at whilst he was falling asleep. But today, like many of the days the past week, he was not in a smiling mood. 

He rolled over to look at the time on his digital alarm clock and saw that it read 7:23 am. He sighed, grabbing his lensless glasses. He studied them for a minute, admiring the sleek material, then slipped them onto his face, letting them rest on the tip of his nose before pushing them up to the bridge and pulling off his blankets. 

The man stood up, and hazily stumbled into the restroom. He grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt on the way to change into. Before he changed though, he approached the mirror and stared into it. 

It was almost as if he wasn’t even looking at himself, even though he was, because there was no one else there to appear in the mirror anymore. He gripped the sink below, and let a few tears fall, thinking of his recently departed best friend. 

After a few more moments of staring emptily at his reflection, Kevin’s right hand twisted the sink on. Cold water erupted from the faucet and he dipped his hands underneath. He let the cold water pool there until there was a decent amount of water in them, and then he pulled his hands up fast, splashing himself hard in the face with it. 

He let out a huff, and began to rub the water around on his face, especially near his tired eyes, which were still puffy and raw from the long cry he had the night before. He then splashed himself one more time for good measure, and picked up the fluffy white towel hanging on the rack to his left. He let the soft material run over his face gently, and breathed in and out, attempting to comfort himself. 

Not much long after, he emerged from the bathroom, dressed in the shirt and jeans that had been lying on his floor all night. He walked over to his nightstand and picked up his wallet, placing it in his back pocket; and then his keys and putting them in his other back pocket, even though he was going to need them in seconds to lock the door on his way out. He turned to leave and caught glimpse of a framed photograph of himself and Michael Hat both posing with saxophones. He recalled that they had _both_ wanted to look like doctors, and smiled dolefully. 

Once he realized he had been standing there for much longer than he should have been, he quickly twirled himself around to face the door. And then he left, locking the door behind him.

Despite there being many bright scarlet leaves decorating the streets outside of his apartment, everything seemed quite dull and lifeless to Kevin. He sighed, and walked to work, ignoring the cold air that grazed past his skin. 

It took him roughly twenty-five minutes on foot to arrive at the Firehouse, but today it took him forty-five. Much longer than usual, however, it was much _quicker_ than the day after Mike Hat had passed, that day it took him nearly two hours to walk to work. The busters had thought nothing of it at first, figuring he was just spacing out while walking to work or maybe he got distracted by something else. Though, once he got inside, they all could tell something was wrong with the receptionist. 

He was greeted with the warm smiles of his friends, who were all still very concerned about his wellbeing. He could see this, and he honestly didn’t really like to make them worry, but he just couldn’t bring himself to smile back. 

The death of Michael Hat had certainly taken a huge toll on the man. That dog was his best friend for _years_. And to be completely honest, Kevin had completely forgotten the fact that dogs’ lifespans are, unfortunately, much shorter than humans’ are. So when Michael Hat passed away at the very old age of eighteen, it had taken Kevin completely by shock. He had always thought that the two of them would grow old together; well his best friend _did_ grow old with him, it was just him who didn’t grow old with Michael. 

_This must be how vampires feel_. He thought to himself, flipping around a pen in his hand as he sat at his desk.

The busters had come up with a system, so that Kevin was never fully on his own while at the Firehouse. Every few hours or so they would switch out, each one trying to cheer Kevin up in their own ways. 

None of their methods really worked out too well; he never wanted to talk about the books Patty tried getting him to read, he never had the energy to help Holtz out with her inventions, and he most certainly didn’t understand all of the theories Erin tried to explain to him. The only one who at least didn’t make things worse was Abby. 

The first few days, she tried to cheer him up, tried to talk about how amazing life is, but after she realized that the only thing she could think of to prove it was soup, she decided it was better to just sit there with him and not say anything. This way, he would know that he’s not alone, but he also wouldn’t feel bad for not cheering up when everyone tried their hardest to help; he was allowed to just be sad. 

Patty had been watching Kevin most of the morning, talking about some incredible things she learned from some of the new books she had read. She urged Kevin to give it a try, that he might actually like the books, but he just shrugged, “maybe later Patty. I’m sorry.”  
Patty looked at the man sympathetically, “it’s okay Kev, I know…”

He stood up from his desk and started walking, “I’m just uh… going to the restroom. I’ll be back.” 

“Oh- Okay!” Patty called after him, watching him walk down the hallway in the opposite direction of the restroom. “Uh, Kev?”

“Yeah?”

“Bathroom’s this way,” she pointed towards the hallway on the opposite side of the room.

“Oh,” he switched directions, “I knew that.”

“Mhmm” Patty nodded, her nose in a rather large book.


	4. Kevin Did WHAT?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Hey, it’s me again,”

“Hey, it’s me again,”

Abby stopped in her tracks, hearing a voice as she had just walked past the bathroom. She backed up and noticed the door was slightly cracked open. 

“I need someone to be my friend…”

Abby debated the morality of peeking in through the crack. She could tell that it was Kevin’s voice, so she didn’t want to disturb him while he was possibly, _y’know_. However, what he was saying sounded more like he was making a wish rather than using the toilet. 

She decided against looking in, just in case, but stayed close to the door, listening in to what he was saying. 

“Maybe… you could send me an angel! The nicest one you have…”

Abby’s heart dropped straight into her stomach. He wasn’t just wishing, he was _praying_. And for a new friend nonetheless! Abby crept away from the door, careful as to not make a sound; she didn’t want Kevin to know that she was spying on him. 

Once she was a safe distance away from the bathroom, Abby called the rest of the busters into Holtzmann’s lab.

“Abby, what’s this about all of a sudden?” Erin walked in, looking highly concerned. She hoped really hard that Abby hadn’t found out about Holtzmann’s… experiment. 

Patty followed behind her, “yeah, are you alright Abby?”

“I am, but Kevin’s not!” Abby motioned them all to come in closer to her.

“So we’ve noticed…” Holtzmann trailed off.

Abby stood there a moment, and blinked a few times. She placed her hands on her hips, put all her weight on her right foot, and raised a brow.

Holtzmann pulled her lips back into a grimace, “right, continue.” 

“I just heard Kevin in the bathroom-”

“Tell me he did not stink up that bathroom! Because I swear to God if he did-”

“Patty, I didn’t hear him taking a _shit_!” She tried to stay serious, but couldn’t help but laugh, picturing her walking past the bathroom and hearing _that_.

“Oh. Good,” Patty nodded, smiling wide. 

“But what I _did_ hear, was him praying!”

Everyone’s eyes widened and then all of their brows furrowed; none of them could really picture Kevin as the praying type. 

“I know, RIGHT?!” Abby threw her hands out and let her mouth hang open for a moment. Everyone stared at her, waiting to hear what _exactly_ it was that he was praying for. 

Abby continued to stand there, her eyes moving back and forth between all of her friends’ faces. It took her a moment, but she finally realized they were all waiting for her to give them the details, “OH!” 

Erin snorted, earning a glare from Abby, “sorry.”

Abby shrugged and smiled playfully, “it’s okay, Erin, perhaps I will tell everyone else about what Kevin was praying for whilst on the porcelain throne and not you.” 

“Heyyy! No fair!” Erin mock whined, smirking back.

“Oh alright, I suppoooose I’ll tell you,” she rolled her eyes around until they reached Erin’s face, “if you beg me to tell you.”

Erin immediately dropped to her knees, “oh please, oh wonderful Abby Yates, tell me what hath Kevin prayed for,” the sarcasm practically dripping from her lips.

Abby laughed, and patted her friend’s shoulder, “well, since you asked so nicely…” she offered a hand to the woman wearing the “world’s smallest bowtie”, and helped her up.

“He was praying for an angel.”

“A what?” Again, no one expected this to have come from Kevin’s mouth.

“He wanted an angel to be sent to him so he could have a new friend...” Abby trailed off.

“Oh.” Everyone’s heart sank, realizing just how seriously this all was affecting Kevin. They all just stood there in silence for a few minutes, unsure of what to say or do. They all felt awful, and sincerely wanted to help their friend, but it was clear that nothing they had done so far was really helpful.   
Holtzmann glanced over at Erin, her eyes glazing over a bit. She covered her mouth, trying to combat the lump in her throat and the pit in her stomach. _If only she had succeeded in bringing Kevin’s best friend back…_

Patty clapped her hands together suddenly, “oh HEY! Guys! I got a GREAT idea!” 

“Oh?” Abby inched closer to the woman, excited to hear her idea. She, and everyone else for that matter, always loved to listen to Patty’s ideas; she always came up with really creative and extremely brilliant solutions to problems. 

“C’mere,” Patty gestured for them to come closer to tell them, she wanted to make certain that Kevin didn’t hear any of it, lest the surprise idea be ruined for him. 

The four women huddled around Patty as she began to whisper her grand idea to them. By the end they broke their huddle with a large “HUAH”, each with a rather large smile plastered across their face.


	5. You Drive Like a Monster!!!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Where are we going?” 
> 
> “If I told you… it wouldn’t be a surprise!”

“Where are we going?” 

“If I told you… it wouldn’t be a surprise!” Erin cheesily pointed finger guns at the man, “just make sure you cover your eyes so you can’t see!”

Kevin stared at the woman blankly, “how would that help?”

“Huh?” 

Kevin blinked rapidly, obviously confused by the woman. This went on for a few minutes.

Realizing that he was going to stand there and keep blinking his eyes until she continued, Erin cleared her throat, “...nevermind. Just uh… Make sure you can’t see where we’re going, okay?” 

“Okay,” Kevin covered his ears, earning a few eyerolls, “all set.” 

Erin weakly smiled at him, unsure of how _exactly_ covering your ears would prevent you from seeing something, but not wanting to discourage him; he was already upset enough as it was. 

The busters lead their receptionist to their most recent mode of transportation; an almost exact replica of the Ecto-1 that had met an untimely end in the Battle of Times Square. Holtzmann raced to the door, keys in hand. Before Erin could protest, since the blonde usually drove, _most likely_ , over the speed limit, she was already sitting in the driver’s seat, turning the keys in the ignition. 

The car grumbled, and Holtz twisted the key again, this time a little harder. The vehicle made a strange whirring noise before promptly roaring to life, causing a rather large smile to crack onto Holtzmann’s lips, “we’re in business, baby!” 

“Heck YEAH!!” Abby exclaimed, excitedly. She and Holtz had a way of pumping the other up, and the two together sometimes could be too much to handle for the other busters. Especially when the two would team up together and play pranks on Erin and Patty, a favorite pastime of theirs. 

Erin sighed.

Patty tapped on Holtzmann’s shoulder gently, “please be careful with the car, my uncle was nice enough to loan us another one…” 

“You got it _boo_ ,” her smile widening as she flopped her head to face Patty.

“Did you just?”

“Why yes, yes I did.”

Now it was Patty’s turn to sigh.

Erin smacked Holtzmann’s arm without even turning to look at her.

“Hey! I said I would be careful!”

“Take this seriously, Jillian.” 

The backseat erupted into loud and sassy “ooo’s”, as Abby and Patty inched closer to the front seats. So much closer to the front seats, that the two of them had their faces pressed in the space between the headrest and the body of the seats.

“You’re in trouuuubbbllleeee,” Abby sang at Holtz through the small space her face was occupying. Her face squished around, as if she were trying to make it dance around with her ‘song’.

Holtzmann whapped her hand backwards, smacking Abby in the face jokingly. “Ha HA!” she laughed out, as Abby removed her face and rubbed her nose. 

Kevin seemed unphased by the ordeal, maybe he really couldn’t see with his hands over his ears...

“Alright!” Erin looked around at her friends, “let’s not forget what we’re all here to do.”

“To bust ghosts?”

“To make KICK ASS inventions?!”

“To wait every day, wondering if you’ll actually receive the food you ordered hours ago that still isn’t here, and when it finally arrives, it lets all of your hopes and dreams die as you find out the ratio of won ton to soup is _still_ not right, even though you’ve _told_ Bennie thousands upon thousands of times, and he still does nothing about it because loves to watch you suffer through this miserable existence known as life?”

“Wow, Abby, that’s deep,” Patty leaned over Kevin and placed a hand on Abby’s shoulder, “that’s-” 

Erin grabbed her hair and imitated the act of pulling it out, “to _drive_ the car that is already _started_ and bring Kevin to that _place_ we talked about bringing _him_ to!” 

 

“Alriiiiiight,” Holtzmann rolled her head back to face forwards. She lightly applied pressure to the gas pedal until they were safely on to the main road, where she then proceeded to slam on it, sending the car flying down the street. 

“Jillian!” Erin screamed, her hand clinging desperately to the side of the door, “slow the _hell_ down! We don’t want to end up having to bust our _own_ ghosts because you think it’s funny to drive like a _monster_!”

Holtz pursed her lips and slowed the vehicle down to the actual speed limit. The word monster had struck her, reminding her of the destructive experiment from earlier that she had _almost_ forgotten. _Wonder what it’s up to now… Is it possibly destroying things? Hurting people? Hiding? Captured by the government? ...Is it even still alive?_ She gripped the steering wheel tighter. Although wrapped up in her thoughts of the _monster_ she was still focused on the road, trying her best to stay within the speed limit and to be as careful as she could, respecting both Patty and Erin’s wishes. 

The rest of the car ride was fairly silent, save for Elvis Presley’s _Heartbreak Hotel_ playing quietly on the radio.


	6. Hi

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Ecto-1 screeched to a halt in front of the dog shelter a little later than the busters had thought it would. Unfortunately, it was just about time for it to close. An older man dressed in a button up shirt and dress pants exited the building and turned to flip the sign on the front from open to _closed_.

The Ecto-1 screeched to a halt in front of the dog shelter a little later than the busters had thought it would. Unfortunately, it was just about time for it to close. An older man dressed in a button up shirt and dress pants exited the building and turned to flip the sign on the front from open to _closed_. 

“Oh no…” Erin frowned, letting her shoulders slump. 

“What?” Kevin asked rather loudly, his ears still covered. 

The older man, who they all assumed to be the owner of the building, whirled around at the sound of Kevin’s voice, slightly startled “oh! Hello! I didn’t see you all there,” he said, looking the busters and the receptionist up and down. 

“It’s okay, we’re sorry if we frightened you,” Patty flashed a sympathetic smile to the store owner.

“Oh, it’s quite alright,” he returned the smile to her, “what can I do you for?”

Abby took a step forward, “er… We were hoping to have our friend Kevin here,” she motions to him, he’s still got his ears covered, “pick out a new buddy,” she walked even closer and held a hand up next to her mouth, to shield her words from the unsuspecting Kevin, “cause his best friend of eighteen years just passed last week…” 

“Oh dear, that’s quite the tragedy,” the man’s brow furrowed, “well we just closed up…”

All of the women felt their stomachs, and their faces, drop, disappointed that they couldn’t get to the shelter in time for Kevin to pick out a new friend. _If only they hadn’t bickered so much…_

“...but I suppose I can make an exception,” he winked at the women, “you all seem to care very much for your…” he looked over at Kevin who, this time, had his fingers plugging up his ears, “interesting friend over there. And I do know how hard it is to lose a great friend.”

“Oh my goodness, really?” Erin’s eyes widened, a smile beginning to form on her previously saddened face. 

The older man laughed, “well it wouldn’t be very nice of me to offer and then take it away right after.”

“Oh thankyou thankyouthankyouthankyou!!!” Erin sputtered out excitedly, she grabbed hold of the owner and hugged him tight. He looked a bit shocked, having been hugged so suddenly, but smiled warmly.

“It’s no problem,” he took his keys out and unlocked the building, “right this way everyone,” he held the door open and motioned with his hand to let them know it was okay to go in. They all nodded at him and gave him many thanks as they entered the shelter, well, all but Kevin; he was still waiting outside, unable to “see” anything. 

The owner looked over at his curiously, wondering _why won’t that guy take his fingers out of his ears and walk on in_. Noticing this, Erin walks back outside and takes Kevin by the arm and leads him in, “He can’t see, he’s got his ears covered,” she said, trying to explain the odd situation, however, she only confused the older man more. 

He gave up trying to understand the logic behind that statement, and shrugged, closing the door behind them all. 

“Now, what are you looking for, anything in particular?”

“Oh y’know, nothing too specific, just something that won’t die so easy… something sturdy, y’know?” Erin explained awkwardly.

“Like a lobster,” Kevin chimed in. 

“Kevin, what in the name of? Do you have a place for a lobster? No. You have a place for a dog,” Patty tilts her head, placing her hands on her hips. 

“We do have a tank in the firehouse though.”

The shelter owner couldn’t help but chuckle at the exchange between the two, he was starting to see how interesting the group could be. 

“How about you head back and check out all of the lovely friends waiting to meet you, young man,” he smiled warmly and lifted up part of the counter to allow Kevin to go in the back. 

“Okay,” Kevin tried to gather up all the energy he could to try and smile, what came out was _sort of_ a smile, a bit wobbly and wanting to snap back into a frown, but it was a smile nonetheless. 

He walked behind the counter and looked back at his friends, an unexplainable forlorn look upon his face. The busters all tried to reassure him through their smiles that things would turn out well, and he turned back around and began his journey down the long hallway to the room with all of the dogs in it, supposedly waiting to meet him.

When he got back there though, it was completely silent and it was completely empty. He hollowly walked around, quickly losing hope that he would find his angel. 

“Hello?” he called out, curious if any of the dogs would come out to the sound of his voice.   
“Is anyone there?” Silence.

“Guess not…” he let his head hang, standing there for a moment. He tried hard to fight back the tears and leaned his head against the wall nearest him. He quickly covered his mouth to muffle the sounds of him sobbing. _Maybe it’s just not meant to be_.

In the very same moment, a little ball of fluffy scurried up to the tearful man. It looked up at him with its huge, dark eyes, waiting to be noticed. Impatient, it coughed loudly, trying to get Kevin’s attention. Though, Kevin continued to sob, completely unaware of the presence near his feet.

The furry animal nudged Kevin’s leg, this time breaking through his sadness. Kevin looked down, and saw the most adorable dog he had ever seen; well, next to Mike Hat of course. He gasped, and looked the dog up and down, studying its features. While adorable, it was certainly an odd looking dog, definitely not a breed he had ever seen before. Most noticeably, it was _blue_ , which definitely wasn’t a color many dogs were. But it also had extremely tall ears, almost like a rabbit’s, that stood upright at attention, and a really large circular nose. Other than that, the dog wasn’t all that strange. 

“Hello,” Kevin bent down to get closer to the dog’s eye level. 

The dog made a few loud sounds like it was going to hurl. Kevin instinctively back up a tiny bit, not wanting the dog to throw up on him; that would make the drive back even more miserable that the drive to the shelter. 

The dog continued to make horrendous noises until it finally, “hi.”

“Hello?” Kevin stared into the dog’s glassy eyes. 

“Hi,” the dog repeated, wrapping its little arms around Kevin’s neck in an attempt to hug him.

“Wow!”


End file.
